The industrial and scientific community has long recognized the value of compressed gases such as air, xenon, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and many other elements and gas mixtures. Moreover, as utility became more integral, the value of portable systems became obvious. Pressure vessels, called portable gas cylinders, were designed to meet such need. In order to insure safety, the cylinders or bottles, have been required to meet certain design and testing standards. Within these design and testing standards, the gas cylinder itself becomes relatively safe, so long as it is inspected regularly.
Inherent in the design of the gas bottle is the addition of a valve assembly which screws into the top of the cylinder. The valve assembly becomes the weak point in the compressed gas system, both in the valve itself and the screw-type connection between the bottle and the valve. The valve system operates as a governor system to deliver the compressed gas at a useable pressure and flow rate.
The valve assembly is comprised of regulators, gauges and delivery valves.
Because cylinders are designed to be portable and are generally long cylinders in shape, they are subject to be knocked over by accident. The valve system being the weak link in the compressed gas system, such an accidental turning of the bottle could cause unexpected impacts to the valve system with the result that should the threaded junction of valve and tank or the valve assembly itself rupture or break the pressurized seal between valve and tank, the sudden escape of compressed gas could result in the release of literally tons of violent and uncontrolled force, not only making the components of the system potentially deadly missiles, but also resulting in destruction of an expensive system.
In order to help minimize the risk of accidental damage, the regulator and gauge systems are necessarily removed and replaced regularly at an expense of valuable time and effort. In addition, certain protective covers have been designed to cover the basic valve and even the valve and regulator system combination so that disassembly is not always necessary. However, these systems have not generally accomplished the goal of protecting the system against sharp impacts and/or have been more cumbersome to install than conventional disassembly and reassembly of the regulator system and application of a valve cover.